This image describes how frequently and how strongly the wind blows from different directions through a typical year. The largest spokes point in the directions the wind most commonly blows from and the shade of blue indicates the strength, with the strongest winds shown by dark blue. It is based on 28044 NWW3 forecasts of wind since since 2006, at 3hr intervals, for the closest NWW3 model node to Goat Island/Mokuauia, located 38 km away (24 miles). There are insufficient recording stations world wide to use actual wind data. Invevitably some coastal places have very localized wind effects that would not be predicted by NWW3.

According to the model, the prevailing wind at Goat Island/Mokuauia blows from the NE. If the rose diagram shows a close to circular outline, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at Goat Island/Mokuauia. Converseley, dominant spokes represent favoured directions, and the more the darkest shade of blue, the stronger the wind. Spokes point in the direction the wind blows from. Over an average year, the model suggests that winds are light enough for the sea to be glassy (the lightest shade of blue) about 2% of the time (7 days each year) and blows offshore just 6% of the time (22 days in an average year). In a typical year winds stronger than >40kph (25mph) are expected on 29 days at Goat Island/Mokuauia

IMPORTANT: Beta version feature! Swell heights are open water values from NWW3. There is no attempt to model near-shore effects. Coastal wave heights will generally be less, especially if the break does not have unobstructed exposure to the open ocean.